'Masterpiece' Memoirist

By

Joanne Kaufman

Oct. 21, 2013 4:19 p.m. ET

New York

The waiter at the posh midtown restaurant unceremoniously plunked down a pot of Twinings and insistently began pouring. In vain, Rebecca Eaton tried stopping him; her drink needed time to brew. "Of all people to be challenged about tea," she murmured good-naturedly.

ENLARGE

Rebecca Eaton
Zina Saunders

Of course, as the longtime executive producer of PBS's "Masterpiece" (formerly "Masterpiece Theatre") and "Mystery!" Ms. Eaton is thoroughly steeped in all things English—from Big Ben to "Little Dorrit," from Jane Austen to Jane Eyre to Jane Marple to Jane Tennison.

Viewers like you may be interested to learn that Ms. Eaton, 65, the author of the new memoir "Making Masterpiece," has occasionally disrespected underwriters. Further, she spurned the chance to broadcast a film about a working-class Irishman (played by some guy named Daniel Day-Lewis) who could control only, er, his left foot. And—grab the smelling salts—she said "no thanks" when the hugely successful "Downton Abbey" was first offered to her.

Ms. Eaton had a similar response when the publisher Viking approached her about writing a book. "I thought 'who wants to hear about me?'" she said. "I thought people would rather hear the inside scoop on Helen Mirren and Michelle Dockery than how I spent my childhood," Ms. Eaton added, referring to the stars of "Prime Suspect" and "Downton."

"They proposed it and I spent a lot of time thinking about it, worrying about it, talking to friends about it, calling people like Russell Baker," Alistair Cooke's successor as the host of "Masterpiece Theatre." "And he said, 'Oh, Rebecca. Relax and just tell stories.'"

Tell them she does. About Princess Margaret's disapproving reaction to "Upstairs, Downstairs." About the search for Cooke's replacement. (John Updike and David Attenborough were among those considered; Kenneth Branagh and Michael Palin were among those who took a pass.) About working with Robert Redford on "Skinwalkers," and Paul Newman on a production of "Our Town." Ms. Eaton was in the midst of a cellphone conversation with Mr. Redford when Newman called on her other number. "Butch," she writes, "was on one line, Sundance on the other."

And there is much in the book about the endless challenges of locating new funding sources and audiences, of finding a hit, then another, then another. The roster includes "Bleak House," "Cranford," "Emma" "Persuasion," and "Sherlock Holmes." "It was 'what's next' the Sunday after 'Downton' went on the air," Ms. Eaton said ruefully. "Where are the laurels to rest on?"

Though not its primary goal, "Making Masterpiece" clears up some common misapprehensions, chief among them that the Boston-born Ms. Eaton is a little old English lady who has personally stitched together every show on the series, and that Cooke delivered his pithy introductions from the depths of a red leather wing chair. There was no such chair.

"The thing that I love is that we're given credit for having produced 'Pride and Prejudice' with Colin Firth," said Ms. Eaton of a "P&P" version that memorably featured a somewhat unclothed Mr. Firth taking a dip in a pond.

"People tell me 'that was my favorite "Masterpiece"' and I say 'oh, thank you,' knowing it was on A&E. Or people will say: 'Oh, "Brideshead Revisited." That was the best "Masterpiece Theatre" I ever saw,'" continued Ms. Eaton. "And I say 'thank you' though it was on 'Great Performances.' Just as people think everything on 'Masterpiece' is produced by the BBC, which isn't true, they think everything British on television has to be 'Masterpiece.' I'll take it."

Ms. Eaton was raised in Southern California. Her father was a professor turned college administrator; her mother, Katherine Emery, starred in the original Broadway production of "The Children's Hour" and had featured roles in a dozen movies, among them "Chicken Every Sunday," "The Locket" and "Isle of the Dead" with Boris Karloff.

After graduating from Vassar, Ms. Eaton took advantage of an exchange program that provided a year's employment at the BBC world service. It led to an internship with WGBH radio in Boston, a job in public-access TV and, subsequently, a decade-long stint making documentaries.

Then, in September 1985, Ms. Eaton took the top job at "Masterpiece Theatre," one she has been known to pertly describe as "trying not to choose bad programs" or "trying to get people to do things they don't want to do."

"I didn't know what a great fit it would be," she said. "I had no experience doing business deals. What I brought was an awareness of the material; I had read all those books. I also knew a little bit about how to make the sausage: what it is to put on a production and, because of my mother, what it is to be an actor.

"Happily, the series did well and got bigger," added Ms. Eaton, whose stewardship has netted "Masterpiece" 31 Emmy Awards, 15 Peabodys, a Golden Globe—and a thank-you note from a young, pre-"Harry Potter" Daniel Radcliffe, who played the title role in a production of "David Copperfield." "I hung on during the hard years and I've been able to see my imprint."

Nonetheless, Ms. Eaton, the recipient of an honorary Order of the British Empire, does sometimes wonder why she's still hanging around, why she hasn't grabbed the commercial-TV offers that have come her way and would pay four times a public-broadcasting salary. "But there would be so much performance pressure—the performance of a series, my performance," Ms. Eaton said. "And the life span of a Hollywood exec is short. It would be a brilliant profitable few years and then I'd be back with a tin cup.

"It's a long game," she added of "Masterpiece." "Miraculously, it's had a rebirth. I never thought I would see it, and here I am sitting in the front row. My feeling was that I would do the book and then get out of town. But in the process of writing it, I fell back in love with the series."

Though not billed as such, "Making Masterpiece" is a joint production of the author and WGBH. They'll share the royalties. "If we can sell enough books," Ms. Eaton said hopefully, "no one will ever have to have a pledge drive again."

Thank you, Ms Kaufman for writing this! I'm a Masterpiece fan who has noticed Rebecca Eaton always seems to be involved with my favorite programs so I've wondered, WHO IS SHE? WHAT'S her background....I'm delighted to hear she has a book coming out. THANK YOU for alerting us! Loved your piece about her,

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